I Got Tired of Screenshotting Manga Into Google Translate, So I Started Building MangaLens

There is a very specific kind of pain manga and manhwa readers know.

You find a chapter you really want to read. Maybe the raw version is already out. Maybe the English translation is behind by a few chapters. Maybe you are reading something in Japanese, Korean, or Chinese and you just want to understand what is happening without waiting days or weeks.

So what do you do?

You screenshot the panel. You open another app. You paste it into a translator. You zoom in. You try to match the translated sentence back to the correct speech bubble. Then you go back to the manga page and repeat the whole thing again.

After doing this enough times, I started thinking:

Why is reading raw manga still this annoying?

That was the idea behind MangaLens.

MangaLens is a browser extension that translates manga, manhwa, and manhua directly on the page. Instead of copying text or uploading screenshots manually, it detects speech bubbles, reads the text, translates it, and places the translation back inside the page while you read.

The goal is simple:

Keep the reading flow alive.

Because the problem is not just translation. Translation tools already exist. The real problem is that most tools break the experience.

When you are reading a manga or manhwa, you do not want to leave the page every few seconds. You do not want to crop images manually. You do not want to keep switching between tabs. You just want to keep reading.

That is what MangaLens is trying to solve.

Why I Started Building It

I have always been interested in small tools that solve annoying problems. Not huge, overcomplicated products. Just simple tools that make one task easier.

For manga readers, one of those tasks is reading untranslated content.

There are so many great stories that are not available in your language yet. Sometimes the raw version is ahead. Sometimes a title is too niche to get fast translation. Sometimes you are just curious about a panel or chapter and want a quick understanding.

The current workflow feels outdated.

A reader should not need five different steps just to understand one speech bubble.

So I started building MangaLens as a way to make raw manga more accessible.

What MangaLens Does

MangaLens focuses on a few core things:

It detects speech bubbles automatically.

It uses OCR to read the text from the image.

It translates the text into the user’s selected language.

It overlays the translated text directly on the page.

The important part is the overlay.

I did not want MangaLens to just show a translation in a popup or side panel. That still makes the user mentally match the translation with the original bubble.

The goal is for the translation to appear where the dialogue belongs, so the page still feels readable.

It is not perfect yet. Manga pages are hard. Text can be vertical, curved, stylized, tiny, low-quality, or inside unusual bubble shapes. Some panels are messy. Some websites load images differently. Some translations need better context.

But every version gets closer.

What I Learned While Building It

One thing I quickly learned is that manga translation is not only an AI problem.

It is also a user experience problem.

You can have a good translation model, but if the text appears in the wrong place, the experience feels broken. You can have accurate OCR, but if the overlay covers the artwork badly, it ruins the panel. You can support many languages, but if the process is slow, readers will stop using it.

The small details matter.

Speed matters. Placement matters. Readability matters. The page layout matters. The reader’s flow matters.

This is why MangaLens is not just about “AI translation.” It is about making translation feel natural inside the reading experience.

The Bigger Vision

Right now, MangaLens is focused on browser-based manga and manhwa reading.

But the bigger idea is simple:

Language should not be the reason someone cannot enjoy a story.

There are so many communities around manga, manhwa, and manhua. People recommend series, discuss chapters, share panels, and follow stories from different countries. But language still creates a wall between readers and content.

MangaLens is my attempt to make that wall smaller.

Not by replacing official translations or professional translators, but by helping readers access and understand content when no easy option exists.

It is for people who read raws. It is for people learning Japanese, Korean, or Chinese. It is for people who discover stories before they are translated. It is for people who are tired of copying, pasting, and screenshotting every panel.

Building in Public

I am still early in the journey.

MangaLens has already had users install it, test it, and give feedback. Some things worked better than expected. Some things broke. Some parts were too slow. Some overlays needed improvement. That is part of building.

The next goal is to keep improving speed, accuracy, supported languages, and the overall reading experience.

I also want to build a small community around it — not just for support, but for readers to share recommendations, request features, and help shape the product.

Because the best version of MangaLens will not come from guessing. It will come from real readers using it and telling me what feels right and what feels annoying.

Final Thought

MangaLens started from a simple frustration:

Reading raw manga should not feel like homework.

You should not have to screenshot every panel. You should not have to jump between apps. You should not have to lose the flow of the story just to understand the dialogue.

That is what I am building toward.

A smoother way to read manga, manhwa, and manhua across languages.

One bubble at a time.

Try MangaLens: mangalens.app